The field of the invention is testing equipment, and the invention relates more particularly to testing equipment of the type useful for testing lifting apparatus or jacking apparatus.
The typical hydraulic testing machine includes an elaborate array of attachments which includes a hydraulic pump which can be used to exert a predetermined or ever increasing pressure on the apparatus to be tested.
For many applications, the only testing which is required is to test a lifting unit of the type often referred to as a "come along" in the oil field industry. It is very important for safety reasons that such come alongs be periodically tested since they include a clutch which, if defective, can cause the machine to fail. Such failure can have disastrous consequences and, thus, companies typically send out the come along for periodic testing. While the user could purchase the conventional hydraulic testing machine, such testing machine is an extremely expensive piece of equipment and actually contains far more features than are necessary for the purpose of testing lifting gear. Similarly, hydraulic jacks and hydraulic pumps should be periodically tested, and a low cost method for such testing is needed.